RJ

The combination of the kids being back in school and me arriving at the shelter early (10:30), resulted in lots of walking buddies to choose from. I noticed a VERY large yellow lab who was standing patiently, wagging and shifting his considerable weight back and forth. I read the volunteer's comments posted on his kennel: "loves to be brushed, loves to be bathed, loves to be petted". RJ, a six year old lab just seems to love people and every kind of interaction. He would be my walking buddy today.

We started our walk at a pretty fast clip; I hoped the exercise yard would be vacant so I could wear him out a little - it wasn't. As we started into the open desert he improved on the leash so that I did not have to use a "no pull" wrap around. I had just gotten a new GPS so I thought I'd try it during our walk. RJ was clipping right along but the minute I stopped to get the GPS out of my pocket he stopped, came around to my side and stood there looking up at me. He did this completely on his own. Once I put the GPS back in my pocket and said "let's go", he started walking again. Ten minutes or so later, I got out the GPS and the same thing happened; not a word from me; RJ just stopped came around to my side, stood there and watched me until I told him we were ready to walk again. This occurred several times throughout our walk of about an hour.

As we returned, the exercise yard was vacant so that was our last stop. RJ just loves the water, his drink at the kiddie pool was a whole body immersion drink. Also he can sit and go down (for treats) which does not surprise me, since he is such a people oriented dog.

Like lots of the dogs at the shelter, he came in as a stray, so we will never know his background; but somewhere in his life he has learned to closely monitor people the way therapy dogs do. It would be wonderful if he found a home where the people need him as much as he needs them. He is really a special dog.

We will be back East till the end of the month, so Good Dog will be quiet till then. Bonnie will be cat sitting for Gus so he will be getting spoiled and having a vacation here at home.